Seoul to Buy Precision Missiles Against NK Nuclear Threat
Link
Link
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/04/116_23147.html
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
South Korea will equip its F-15K fighters with state-of-the-art precision cruise missiles in a bid to strengthen the country's defense ``against North Korea's nuclear threat,'' an arms agency official said Friday.
The missile is expected to be used in striking key nuclear facilities in North Korea should hostilities breakout, defense sources said.
The Defense Acquisition Program Administration announced that it would purchase hundreds of ``JASSM-level'' cruise missiles by 2011.
JASSM is the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile developed in the United States. The missile has a range of 370 kilometers and its latest version, the JASSM-Extended Range, has a range of some 1,000 kilometers, according to missile experts.
The weapon is used to attack both fixed and mobile targets at ranges beyond enemy air defenses. After launch, it flies at low-level, along a programmed route to the target, where a terminal guidance system ensures a direct hit.
The announcement comes amid mixed expectations of North Korea's denuclearization process under a disarmament-for-aid deal reached last year between the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.
A group of U.S. officials and nuclear experts visited the North Korean capital earlier this week to discuss the communist state's declaration of its past and current nuclear activities, including an alleged uranium enrichment program and the transfer of nuclear technology to Syria.
The U.S. team said progress was made during talks with North Korean officials. But the U.S. government confirmed, on the other hand, the North had helped Syria's secret nuclear program.
The so-called Feb. 13 nuclear pact has been stalled for months over disagreements on whether Pyongyang has fulfilled its pledge to provide a full declaration of its nuclear programs.
North Korea argued it provided the list of its nuclear inventory last November, while the United States said the list was incomplete.
Under the pact, the North is to receive 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil or its equivalent in aid and other political concessions from the five other countries in return for disabling its key nuclear facilities and disclosing its nuclear programs.
gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr
Staff Reporter
South Korea will equip its F-15K fighters with state-of-the-art precision cruise missiles in a bid to strengthen the country's defense ``against North Korea's nuclear threat,'' an arms agency official said Friday.
The missile is expected to be used in striking key nuclear facilities in North Korea should hostilities breakout, defense sources said.
The Defense Acquisition Program Administration announced that it would purchase hundreds of ``JASSM-level'' cruise missiles by 2011.
JASSM is the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile developed in the United States. The missile has a range of 370 kilometers and its latest version, the JASSM-Extended Range, has a range of some 1,000 kilometers, according to missile experts.
The weapon is used to attack both fixed and mobile targets at ranges beyond enemy air defenses. After launch, it flies at low-level, along a programmed route to the target, where a terminal guidance system ensures a direct hit.
The announcement comes amid mixed expectations of North Korea's denuclearization process under a disarmament-for-aid deal reached last year between the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.
A group of U.S. officials and nuclear experts visited the North Korean capital earlier this week to discuss the communist state's declaration of its past and current nuclear activities, including an alleged uranium enrichment program and the transfer of nuclear technology to Syria.
The U.S. team said progress was made during talks with North Korean officials. But the U.S. government confirmed, on the other hand, the North had helped Syria's secret nuclear program.
The so-called Feb. 13 nuclear pact has been stalled for months over disagreements on whether Pyongyang has fulfilled its pledge to provide a full declaration of its nuclear programs.
North Korea argued it provided the list of its nuclear inventory last November, while the United States said the list was incomplete.
Under the pact, the North is to receive 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil or its equivalent in aid and other political concessions from the five other countries in return for disabling its key nuclear facilities and disclosing its nuclear programs.
gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr
Link
Link
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/04/116_23147.html